(Continued from Neko's Trip Home/18 10/25/24)
I tried to ignore the giant emperor penguin as I turned and headed toward Colin. Unfortunately, the big guy talked a lot. Constantly. I wanted to strangle him before we reached the blanket where the others sat enjoying the ocean sunset.
"Neko," Colin said with a smile. "Chase all the gulls -- oh."
"I seem to have a problem."
Colin nodded and waved his hand through the air. In that moment, the others saw, and heard, my talkative new companion. Shosha squeaked and threw herself into Luna's lap while Colin and Dorian stared, both looking confused.
"And this is?" Dorian asked, his voice not quite calm.
"Reginald," the penguin answered. "I am Neko's spirit animal."
"Neko is a cat," Colin replied.
"That presents a certain challenge, don't you think?" Reginald smiled. I wished he wouldn't do that. "It's hard enough to find someone who believes enough to see a spirit animal, let alone accept our help. Neko sees me, accepts what I am, but still won't believe I am his spirit animal."
"Neko is a cat," Colin repeated.
"I mentioned that to Sister Spirit," Reginald replied. "However, Sister Spirit felt that since we'd all had encounters with Maude --"
I don't know what reaction he'd expected it, but it clearly was not seeing the fae and human surge to their feet. The penguin leaped backward, wobbled and fell on his face. Dorian helped him back up. The rest of us waited, rather impatiently, for Reginald to explain himself.
"I can see you all know who Maude is," the penguin said.
"We had hoped she was dead," Colin replied, his voice unexpectedly laced with anger.
Shosha hissed. Luna stared out at the waves, but I had the feeling she saw something more.
"Luna?" I whispered as I nudged her leg.
"Not dead," she agreed, and shook her head in disgust. "I should have realized the traces I keep seeing aren't from the past."
An inordinate amount of cursing followed Luna's statement, and spoken in several languages. Reginald had a moment of shock. I wondered if we could trust him, though. He had said the magic name, but that could be a trick to get us to take him in.
I looked at Colin and could tell he wasn't completely taken in, either. I didn't know what we could do to test him, either. Could we contact Sister Spirit, whom he had mentioned? And if we did, could we trust her? Had Maude touched them all and they were now untrustworthy?
And what did that mean about me?
There had to be another answer.
I still felt a chill and shivered -- and saw Luna do the same thing. The cold wasn't in my thoughts. It came from the storm blowing in over the ocean. A real storm, too. People who had paid no attention to us quickly packed their seaside belongings and headed for their cars.
"Colin," I said.
"I am getting the car ready," he said. He looked troubled, which was no help at all. "Dorian --"
"Getting everything ready," he replied. I could feel his magic sweep around me. I felt safer. "Reginald will have to go with us."
"Of course," Colin agreed.
And now not so safe. I almost protested, but it would have been rude. Besides, the storm was almost on us, and I figured we could settle this matter somewhere else with less wind and rain.
Reginald moved closer and blocked the worst of the storm. I still felt uneasy, but it was nicer. I gathered up Shosha so that she didn't get blown away and she settled between my front paws. Luna saw her and nodded, but the seer seemed distracted. I didn't take that as a good sign, as though the storm itself wasn't trouble enough.
The storm was magnificent and I would have liked to watch it if I hadn't suspected it was aimed right at us. The clouds had spread from north to south and were pillowing upward as well. Lightning flashed from cloud to cloud and then speared down to the sea. The storm grew larger and closer with each wave.
I could feel Maude in it, and more powerful than I had hoped. Dorian and Colin seemed to feel the same way. They murmured to each other about something dire. I wanted them to get moving --
Colin nodded and disappeared. This wasn't what I wanted at all!
Dorian pulled us all into a tighter group.
"Colin has gone to the car," he said. He still looked troubled. "The rest of us need to get there with as little magic as possible. The only magic I'll use will hide Neko, Reginald, and Shosha. Luna --"
"I can make it," she said. "Do you want me to take Shosha?"
"I will take her since I need the three of them with me," he replied. "Go ahead of us so I can watch you. Let's go!"
The crowd who had been here a few minutes ago had disappeared up the stairs to the road. All I could see of them were footprints in the sand, and a few small pieces of trash. They had been remarkably good about cleaning up.
I looked back when we reached the stairs and wished that I hadn't. The clouds had obscured the sky and the ocean had grown to cover all but a small portion of the sand. Waves rose higher with each strike.
"Go!" I ordered to Reginald. Dorian held tight to Shosha just as a wave hit the bottom of the ladder. They were almost at the top. "Get moving, Reginald!"
"I can't!" The words sounded both angry and anguished. "I can't climb stairs! Not in weather like this!"
I snarled and then did something stupid. I used just enough magic to send Reginald up the steps to the roadway above. He made an odd shout and then Dorian yelled. I started up --
But the next wave caught my legs and dragged me away.
